," sighed Kleon, listening as the
iron doors of his dungeon slowly opened.

"Be strong!" whispered the girl, pressing the hand of her brother
which was enlaced in hers.

The dumb eunuchs surrounded them, and led them before Ali Pasha.

The pasha was sitting on a divan, and still wore his funeral robe; all
the furniture was shrouded with cinder-colored cloth; there was
nothing golden, nothing that sparkled in the room.

The brother and sister stood before him, pressing each other's hands.

"My dear children," said the pasha, in a voice that trembled with
emotion, "don't look into each other's eyes, but look at me!"

At this unusual tone, at these kindly words, the brother and sister
did look at him, and perceived that the old man was looking at them
sadly, doubtfully, and that his eyes were full of tears.

Ali beckoned to the eunuchs, and they freed the brother and sister
from their chains.

"Behold, ye are free, and may return to your homes," said Ali.

These words had the effect of an electric shock upon the youth, and
his face lit up with a flush of joy.

"Why dost thou rejoice?" cried Artemis, casting a severe look upon
him; "dost thou not perceive that the monster is mocking us? He only
wants to excite joy within us that he may kindle our hopes, and then
make death all the more bitter to us. Why dost thou make sport of us,
thou old devil? Slay us quickly, or slay us with lingering torments,
'tis all one to us, but do not mock us!"

Tepelenti devoutly raised his eyes to heaven.

"My soul is an open book before you. Ye are free. Ye free Suliotes, we
understand one another. I have sinned grievously against you, but ye
have revenged yourself upon me. I burned your villages, ye, in return,
have destroyed my fortresses. I have pillaged your lands, and ye have
taken my possessions from me. I have slain your bridegroom and
snatched thee from thy parent's house; thou hast cut off the head of
my favorite grandson, and ravished from me my favorite wife. Now we
are quits, and owe each other nothing. Go in peace!"

There was so much sincerity, so much repentant, contrite grief in the
words of Ali, that the watchful maid began to regard him with curious
sympathy.

"Thou art amazed at my change of countenance," said Ali, observing the
impression his words had produced on Artemis. "Thou hast not seen me
like this before! That other Ali is no more. He died, and was buried.
A penitent kneels before thee who has a hor